'Would you work 996?' Hustle culture trend gains ground in Silicon Valley

The number combination refers to a work schedule - 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week - that has its origins in China's hard-charging tech scene

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By Lora Kelley 

Working 9 to 5 is a way to make a living. But in Silicon Valley, amid the competitive artificial intelligence craze, grinding “996” is the way to get ahead. Or at least to signal to those around you that you’re taking work seriously.

 

The number combo refers to a work schedule — 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week — that has its origins in China’s hard-charging tech scene. In 2021, a Chinese high court barred employers from compelling employees to work 72-hour weeks. But that hasn’t stopped California tech workers from fixating on the approach — and posting about it nonstop in recent weeks on X and LinkedIn.

 

Evidence of the trend is so far largely anecdotal: Some companies are noting their expectation for 70-hour-plus workweeks in job descriptions. Executives are said to be asking prospective hires if they are willing to work such schedules. And Ramp, a financial operations start-up, noted in a blog post this month that it had observed a higher share of corporate credit card transactions in San Francisco on Saturdays for the first half of this year than in previous years, which it took to mean that people are working more on weekends. 

Though the term is relatively new in Silicon Valley, 996 is a “high-octane version of something that has been around in the tech industry for a while,” said Margaret O’Mara, a historian at the University of Washington and the author of “The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America.” She noted that since the 1960s, when semiconductor companies were in fierce competition, many tech firms have had intense, hours-heavy work cultures — and have been “California casual” on the outside and “old-fashioned workaholic” on the inside.

 

The idea of tech workers approaching their jobs with an intense, at times almost religious, devotion is “part of the DNA of Silicon Valley culture,” said Carolyn Chen, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Work Pray Code.” She also noted that a strain of “heroic masculine culture” in tech enforces the expectation that people should be working all the time.

 

The hustle culture, Dr. O’Mara noted, may be out of reach for those with caregiving or other outside responsibilities — and it risks re-entrenching the dynamics of an already homogeneous industry.

 

For those savvy and lucky enough to get in on a big idea early — and willing and able to work nonstop — the incentives are vast. The recent wave of staggering investments in A.I. means that down-the-line riches are all the more tantalizing. At the same time, tech workers may be feeling more insecure now than in past, flusher eras of Silicon Valley, Dr. O’Mara noted. 

After a few turbulent years of layoffs, high interest rates and vacillating returns on big swings, the tech industry — once known for its cushy benefits — has tightened things up. Elon Musk’s self-proclaimed “extremely hard core” approach is no longer out of step with the rest of the industry. Silicon Valley’s “hard tech” era is here, and working crazy hours (or at least talking about working crazy hours) is part of the new norm.

 

The Silicon Valley of 2020 and 2025 have “a different set of priorities,” Dr O’Mara said.